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Svetlana B. Nolde,
Alexander A. Vassilevski,
Eugene A. Rogozhin,
Nikolay A. Barinov, Tamara A. Balashova,
Olga V. Samsonova,
Yuri V. Baranov,
Alexey V. Feofanov,
Tsezi A. Egorov,
Alexander S. Arseniev,
Eugene V. Grishin
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ABSTRACT: This study presents purification, activity characterization, and 1H NMR study of the novel antifungal peptide EcAMP1 from kernels of barnyard grass Echinochloa crus-galli. The peptide adopts a disulfide-stabilized α-helical hairpin structure in aqueous solution and thus represents a novel fold
among naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides. Micromolar concentrations of EcAMP1 were shown to inhibit growth of several
fungal phytopathogens. Confocal microscopy revealed intensive EcAMP1 binding to the surface of fungal conidia followed by
internalization and accumulation in the cytoplasm without disturbance of membrane integrity. Close spatial structure similarity
between EcAMP1, the trypsin inhibitor VhTI from seeds of Veronica hederifolia, and some scorpion and cone snail toxins suggests natural elaboration of different functions on a common fold.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 07/2011; 286(28):25145-25153. · 4.77 Impact Factor
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Svetlana B Nolde,
Alexander A Vassilevski,
Eugene A Rogozhin,
Nikolay A Barinov, Tamara A Balashova,
Olga V Samsonova,
Yuri V Baranov,
Alexey V Feofanov,
Tsezi A Egorov,
Alexander S Arseniev,
Eugene V Grishin
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This study presents purification, activity characterization, and (1)H NMR study of the novel antifungal peptide EcAMP1 from kernels of barnyard grass Echinochloa crus-galli. The peptide adopts a disulfide-stabilized α-helical hairpin structure in aqueous solution and thus represents a novel fold among naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides. Micromolar concentrations of EcAMP1 were shown to inhibit growth of several fungal phytopathogens. Confocal microscopy revealed intensive EcAMP1 binding to the surface of fungal conidia followed by internalization and accumulation in the cytoplasm without disturbance of membrane integrity. Close spatial structure similarity between EcAMP1, the trypsin inhibitor VhTI from seeds of Veronica hederifolia, and some scorpion and cone snail toxins suggests natural elaboration of different functions on a common fold.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 05/2011; 286(28):25145-53. · 4.77 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Members of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) family become chromophoric through a unique pathway based on autocatalytic modifications of their amino acid residues. The yellow fluorescent protein zFP538 from the button polyp Zoanthus possesses unique spectral characteristics that are intermediate between those of the green and orange-red fluorescent proteins. In this study, we used chemical synthesis to resolve conflicting data from crystallographic and biochemical analyses of the zFP538 chromophore structure. We synthesized 2-(5-amino-1-oxopentyl)-5-(4-hydroxybenzylidene)-3-methyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-4-one (5), which can spontaneously react intramolecularly to form cyclic imine (7). Compound 7 represents the native chromophore structure reported in the crystallographic study. We have also discovered an unusual isomerization of a 2-acylimidazolone to a 2,6-diketopiperazine derivative. The zFP538 chromophore is a complex system with intriguing chemical and spectral behavior, properties that have led to discrepancies in the interpretation of its structure. Our study supports the findings of previous crystallographic work, which postulated a cyclic imine chromophore structure within the native zFP538 protein, and also provides an explanation for experimental results obtained in the biochemical characterization of zFP538-derived chromopeptides.
Biochemistry 08/2009; 48(33):8077-82. · 3.42 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Here we present the study of the chromophore structure of the purple chromoprotein from Condylactis gigantea. Tandem mass spectrometry and 1H and 13C NMR of the chromopeptide reveal that the protein contains a chromophore with a chemical structure identical to that of the red fluorescent protein from Discosoma sp. A single A63G substitution demonstrates that the nature of the first amino acid of the XYG chromophore-forming sequence is dispensable for the chromoprotein red shift development. It has been recently proposed that post-translational reactions at the acylimine, a chemical group that accounts for the red fluorescence, might be an additional source of spectral diversity of proteins homologous to the Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein (GFP). We have examined the reactivity of the chromophore acylimine group within the C. gigantea purple chromoprotein. Like other proteins with the acylimine-modified chromophore, the purple chromoprotein suffers a hypsochromic spectral shift to the GFP-like absorbance (386 nm) upon mild denaturation. NMR analysis of the chromopeptide suggests this hypsochromic spectral shift is due to H2O addition across the C=N bond of the acylimine. However, unlike the red fluorescent protein from Discosoma sp., denatured under harsh conditions, the wild-type chromoprotein exhibits only slight fragmentation, which is induced by complete hydrolysis of the acylimine. A model suggesting the influence of the amino acid X side chain on protein fragmentation is presented.
Biochemistry 07/2006; 45(23):7256-64. · 3.42 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Zervamicin IIB is a 16 amino acid peptaibol that forms voltage dependent ion channels with multilevel conductance states in planar lipid bilayers and vesicular systems. Stability of the hinge region and intermolecular interactions were investigated in the N- and C-terminally spin-labelled peptide analogues. Intermolecular and intramolecular paramagnetic enhancement indicates that zervamicin behaves as a rigid helical rod in methanol solution. There are no high amplitude hinge-bending motions, and the peptaibol is monomeric up to concentration 1.5 mM. Stability of the hinge region illustrates the helix stabilising propensity of the Pro residue in membrane mimic environments and implies absence of significant conformational rearrangement due to voltage peptaibol activation.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 12/2004; 325(3):1099-105. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The purple chromoprotein (asFP595) from Anemonia sulcata belongs to the family of green fluorescent protein (GFP). Absorption and emission spectra of asFP595 are similar to those of a number of recently cloned GFP-like red proteins of the DsRed subfamily. The earlier proposed asFP595 chromophore structure [Martynov, V. I.; et al. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 21012-21016] was postulated to result from an "alternative cyclization" giving rise to a pyrazine-type six-membered heterocycle. Here we report that the asFP595 chromophore is actually very close in chemical structure to that of zFP538, a yellow fluorescent protein [Zagranichny, V. E.; et al. (2004) Biochemistry 43, 4764-4772]. NMR spectroscopic studies of four chromophore-containing peptides (chromopeptides) isolated under mild conditions from enzymatic digests of asFP595 and one chromopeptide obtained from DsRed revealed that all of them contain a p-hydroxybenzylideneimidazolinone moiety formed by Met-65/Gln-66, Tyr-66/67, and Gly-67/68 of asFP595/DsRed, respectively. Two asFP595 chromopeptides are proteolysis products of an isolated full-length polypeptide containing a GFP-type chromophore already formed and arrested at an earlier stage of maturation. The two other asFP595 chromopeptides were isolated as proteolysis products of the purified chromophore-containing C-terminal fragment. One of these has an oxo group at Met-65 C(alpha) and is a hydrolysis product of another one, with the imino group at Met-65 C(alpha). The N-unsubstituted imino moiety of the latter is generated by spontaneous polypeptide chain cleavage at a very unexpected site, the former peptide bond between Cys-64 C' and Met-65 N(alpha). Our data strongly suggest that both zFP538 and asFP595 could be attributed to the DsRed subfamily of GFP-like proteins.
Biochemistry 11/2004; 43(42):13598-603. · 3.42 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The yellow fluorescent protein (zFP538) from coral Zoanthus sp. belongs to a family of green fluorescent protein (GFP). Absorption and emission spectra of zFP538 show an intermediate bathochromic shift as compared with a number of recently cloned GFP-like red fluorescent and nonfluorescent chromoproteins of the DsRed subfamily. Here we report that the zFP538 chromophore is very close, if not identical, in chemical structure to that of DsRed. To gain insight into the mechanism of zFP538 fluorescence and chromophore structure and chemistry, we studied three chromophore-containing peptides isolated from enzymatic digests of zFP538. Like GFP and DsRed chromophores, these contain a p-hydroxybenzylideneimidazolinone moiety formed by Lys-66, Tyr-67, and Gly-68 of zFP538. One of the peptides studied, the hexapeptide FKYGDR derivative, is a proteolysis product of the zFP538 full-length polypeptide containing a GFP-type chromophore already formed and arrested at an earlier stage of maturation. The two other peptides are the derivatives of the pentapeptide KYGDR resulted from the protein in which the chromophore maturation process had been completed. One of these has an oxogroup at Lys-66 C(alpha) and is a hydrolysis product of another one, with the imino group at Lys-66 C(alpha). The N-unsubstituted imino moiety of the latter is generated by spontaneous polypeptide chain fragmentation at a very unexpected site, the former peptide bond between Phe-65 C' and Lys-66 N(alpha). Also observed in the entire protein under mild denaturing conditions, this fragmentation is likely the feature of native zFP538 chromophore that distinguishes it chemically from the DsRed chromophore.
Biochemistry 05/2004; 43(16):4764-72. · 3.42 Impact Factor
